Delhi is racing ahead to become COVID capital of India
NEW DELHI : Delhi is well on its way to become the COVID-19 capital of India, displacing Mumbai from that unflattering position. By recording over 3,000 corona virus cases for three straight days, Delhi leapt ahead of Tamil Nadu on the weekend, and become the second worst-hit state in the country in terms of the number of infections.
Delhi recorded 3,788 fresh coronavirus cases on Wednesday, taking the tally in the city over the 70,000-mark, while the death toll from the disease climbed to 2,365, authorities said.
Delhi is not just a state. It is also India’s largest city, and along with Mumbai, the only mega-city in the country with a population hovering around 2 crore.
With this Delhi has already overtaken worst-hit city Mumbai’s COVID-19 tally of 68,410 on Tuesday. On Tuesday, the national capital reported the highest single-day spike till date of 3,947. From Friday-Sunday, 3,000 or more fresh cases were reported per day here. On Monday, 2,909 cases were recorded.
Sixty-four fatalities have been recorded in the last 24 hours, the Delhi health department bulletin said on Wednesday.The death toll from COVID-19 in Delhi stood at 2,301 on Tuesday. The bulletin said the death toll from coronavirus infection has risen to 2,365, and the total number of cases mounted to 70,390.
The residents of Delhi are bracing themselves for one of the most difficult phases in the city’s recent memory as the cases of corona virus keep rising at a troubling rate amid concerns that the national capital’s health infrastructure is coming under immense strain.
Seeing the rise in cases, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Monday announced two important measures. He said his government will help patients get access to oxygen easily, via a phone call. Also, the state government had more than tripled its daily testing numbers using a rapid method that gives results in half an hour, he said.
Today is the ninety-third day since India implemented a nationwide lock down, to curb the novel corona virus pandemic. India has so far recorded 4,73,105 lakh cases, which includes 14,894 deaths. Its highest single-day spike in cases with 15, 968 new cases to take the total to 4,56,183, according to health ministry data on Tuesday morning.
465 new deaths were also reported The total tally includes 183022 active cases, 258685 cured/discharged/migrated & 14476 deaths.
Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Delhi and Gujarat have reported the highest number of cases. However, the recovery rate is rising and now stands at 57.4 percent. Maharashtra continues to be the country’s worst-hit state, with 1.32 lakh cases and 6,170 deaths.
If this trend continues, Delhi will soon overtake Mumbai to become the worst-affected city in the country. Mumbai’s death toll, 3,669, is higher than Delhi’s, but if Maharashtra’s capital manages to curb the rise in new cases, the daily death toll is expected to come under control as well.
(With Agency Inputs ).
